1903 Part 1

Hey gang! Today I will be starting the year of 1903...which will be split into two parts. Super exciting yeah? Speaking of...my birthday is less than 24 hours away! I'm really excited...almost more excited than the fact that Edison stopped making films.

First up we have our first incarnation of Alice in Wonderland...oy.

Ok so I know the film was badly damaged with it being over 100 years old and all but GEEZ. The quality was absolutely terrible! A Trip to the Moon was better than that and you guys know how much I didn't like that. Special effects were pretty awful and if I hadn't known the story/if there hadn't been titles between scenes I would have been so flipping confused. It just wasn't executed well at all. Something I did like was all the kids as the cards...I totally laughed harder than I should have.

Now the most horrible thing you will ever see...another film by Thomas Edison.

TOLD YOU! ...poor Topsy =( =( =(. This elephant died because Edison wanted to one up Tesla...UGH WHAT A JERK! wsljkfdnvwp9e8rgbqergvnq;aowibAIUGREH[Q....not a fan -_-

Next up we see Mr. Melies again with Fairyland: A Kingdom of Fairies 

 

A few things about this piece: color again...nice, first evidence of a montage? yes!, special effects...nice as usual. Now for things I hated: the story...It was super difficult to follow and i'm pretty sure I still have it wrong. There was something about some bad guy and a princess? Then there were mermaids and they were breathing under water...it was some crazyness going on. Also I'm starting to get really tired of the theatrical sets...they were really good in this film but I'm just absolutely sick of them. I know things won't change for awhile but UGH.

And now for the most famous piece from this year...Thomas Edison's The Great Train Robbery.

For the first time I don't absolutely detest Edison's work...The problem is this is one of the only things (film wise) he's remembered for. The film had a good story which was easy to follow, a chase scene, a dance number and half of the film was shot outside and not in a studio! All in all I thought this was a great example of relatively good film making and I hope Edison's work continues on this path (although I doubt it when he also released Topsy in the same year =( ).

That's it for today! Next post will be on Friday because I have 4 finals on Thursday and won't have time to watch anything. Have a great week!